‘We’re Still in an Anti-Vax Era’: Dr. Fauci on Battling Anti-Science Sentiment in a Divided America

Before COVID-19, it was rare for an immunologist to become a household name. But in 2020, Dr. Anthony Fauci—then-director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)—quickly became one of the U.S.’ most recognizable symbols of the fight against the pandemic. He was the face of the “Stop the Spread” campaign, urging people to get the vaccine (which some affectionately dubbed the “Fauci ouchie”), and was the subject of a documentary film in 2021.

In Ms.’ first On the Issues podcast episode of 2025, Fauci joined host and Ms. Studios executive producer Michele Goodwin to talk about his time fighting vaccine misinformation, his hopes for the future and how his life changed in the public spotlight during COVID-19, including the toll that the often-troubling attention took on his family.

‘This Work Is Not at the Fringe’: What It Was Like to Lead the White House Gender Policy Council

Jennifer Klein, head of the first-of-its-kind office, reflects on the wins and the challenges—most notably, the end of federal abortion rights.

Gender equity isn’t simply good for women, she stressed, but good for America, good for the world. “If you look at the data, there is a well-established link between political stability and the treatment of women,” she said, making gender equity essential for national security. 

Pregnant Dockworkers in L.A. and Long Beach Need Better Workplace Protection

Post-Dobbs, the fight for abortion access has rightly dominated headlines. While that’s a fight that’s still being waged, reproductive justice comprises many facets, including the right to healthy, dignified working conditions for those who choose to continue their pregnancies. Even in states with strong protections, like California, the fight is far from over to ensure pregnant workers don’t lose their livelihoods simply for starting a family.

The ILWU relies on the powerful labor movement motto: “An injury to one is an injury to all.” The Pacific Maritime Association boasts, “workplace safety is a key consideration” in its operations. It’s time to make the sentiments behind those declarations a reality for pregnant and parenting workers. 

One More Award Due to ‘Baby Reindeer’: Best Filming of a Rape Scene

Much ink has been spilled on the extraordinary series Baby Reindeer, especially its refusal to be reductive in depicting complex and charged sexually subjects and the groundbreaking nature of its portrayal of male-on-male sexual assault and its consequences. What gets overlooked: Baby Reindeer is a vivid, visceral lesson in how to film a rape scene.

The filming of episode four—the construction, the point of view, the relentless focus, the utter absence of sensationalism and exploitation—can serve as a valuable lesson in how to film a rape scene: steering difficult scenes away from the abuser’s point of view, placing them in a space that allows the audience to understand, defend and respect the survivor.

Grassroots Power: How Amarillo Became the First City to Reject a Abortion Travel Ban

On Nov. 5, 2024, voters in the Texas Panhandle city of Amarillo resoundingly defeated (59 to 41 percent) a proposition that would have declared their town a “sanctuary city for the unborn.” Amarillo now enjoys the distinction of being the first city in the U.S. where voters rejected a post-Roe abortion travel ban.

The defeat marks a powerful repudiation of Mark Lee Dickson, founder of the antiabortion group Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn—due in large measure to the activism of the Amarillo Reproductive Freedom Alliance. The alliance was launched when six local women met at a coffee shop to debrief after Dickson’s initial presentation, which several of them had attended. The women immediately recognized that the ordinance posed a threat they needed to take seriously.

The Hymen Myth: Exploring the History, Science and Symbolism of Virginity

Of all the parts of the body associated with entering womanhood, the elusive hymen has perhaps come into play the most. The hymen has been presented as a clear, physical, nonnegotiable marker of virginity, its presence signaling purity and its loss marking womanhood.

In very many societies, virginity and the manner of its “loss” have mattered for women as well as for the men who use women’s bodies as currency in transactions between families. Projected on to specific body parts, this concern with virginity extends beyond the physical realm.

What We’re Up Against: The Challenge of Fighting for Women’s Rights in 2025

As we enter 2025 at what seems to be a heyday of impunity for human rights abuses worldwide, autocratic leaders worldwide are taking note. In countries rich and poor, these leaders are flexing their muscles by curtailing our rights—to speak our minds, control our bodies, vote our consciences and have access to fundamental things as safe shelter, clean water and affordable nutrition, education and healthcare.

At WomenStrong International, our partners across the globe are seeing this ramp-up of restrictions up close.

Weekend Reading on Women’s Representation; Jimmy Carter’s Legacy and Women’s Political Power, a Look Back and Ahead

Weekend Reading for Women’s Representation is a compilation of stories about women’s representation. 

This week, we cover President Jimmy Carter’s legacy, activist Fannie Lou Hamer receiving a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom, milestones in the U.S. Congress, the rising number of women serving in state-level governments, and the impact of the Jan. 6 insurrection on women members of Congress. 

Care Can’t Wait: Why Families Must Come Before Billionaires in the 2025 Tax Fight

When doctors discovered a concerning spot during Martresa’s routine checkup, they urged her to come in immediately for further tests and treatment. But as a single mother caring for both her chronically ill mother and young daughter, Martresa faced an impossible choice. With no paid leave or caregiving support, seeking treatment meant potentially losing her job and health insurance. Like so many, she made the decision to put her family’s care before her own. A few years later, Martresa received an alarming cancer diagnosis—the consequence of a system that forces us to choose between work, caring for ourselves and caring for the people we love. It’s not a real choice at all. 

The new Republican-dominated Congress has already begun preparations for debating new tax legislation, and Martresa’s story illuminates what’s at stake. Will the U.S. continue to enrich those whose wealth is already unimaginable, or will Congress invest in families and the care that families need in order to work? 

It’s Not ‘Divorce Month.’ It’s ‘Starting to Think About Divorce Month.’

For years, many have nicknamed January “Divorce Month” and the first working Monday as “Divorce Day,” as if floods of filings hit courthouses across the country right after the ball drops. But that’s not the case.

March is a bigger month for the D-word. August is nothing to sneeze at either, according to a study by the University of Washington. So what’s the big deal with January? You could say the first of the year pushes sideline spectators, who’ve watched others split, to start dipping their toes in the divorce waters. In the end, nearly 70 percent of divorces are initiated by women.